Fishing Report

Stream fishing

Thousands of the region’s anglers will be fishing trout streams the next few weeks. Many popular streams, including those in North Idaho, near Missoula, Helena and West Yellowstone, finally are low and clear enough for good fishing.

For example, the relatively few fly fishers who floated the lower Coeur d’Alene River during the Fourth of July weekend reported excellent fishing. One pleased fly fisher said he hooked as many big cutthroat as he has during the height of fishing the upper St. Joe.

Big cutthroat apparently are migrating along the Coeur d’Alene River.

The St. Joe, one of the most popular cutthroat streams in the Northwest, finally is low enough for good fishing. It’s somewhat high, but anglers are starting to do well.

Big salmonflies are hatching along the Madison River, according to Mike Lawson, manager of Henry’s Fork Anglers in Last Chance, Idaho.

Earlier this week, they were hatching near the McAffee Bridge, he said.

The Madison, where a high percentage of trout, primarily rainbows, died as the result of the whirling disease, has been providing good fishing the last two years, Lawson said. It is still high but fishable.

Green Drake mayflies are hatching along the Henry’s Fork in the Last Chance area, Lawson said. Fly fishers are seeing some Brown Drakes along the Harriman Ranch section.

Lawson said golden stoneflies are hatching in the Box Canyon just above Last Chance, creating opportunities for fly fishers to hook big trout in the fast-moving water.

Many Inland Northwest fly fishers are anticipating the opening of the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone Park on Thursday. Lawson said a good opening is expected, even though the river is somewhat high.

Lawson said the Firehole River in Yellowstone Park has been providing excellent fly fishing. However, when temperatures soar, fishing will deteriorate.

Streams in the Missoula area are starting to provide good fly fishing. Fly fishers are doing well along Rock Creek and the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers.

Kokanee

Unsettled weather last weekend kept many would-be anglers off the region’s lakes where there are good kokanee populations. However, anglers did well at some lakes during the Fourth of July weekend.

Both trolling and night fishing has been good at Loon Lake.

Joe Haley, manager of the Granite Point Resort, said experienced trollers have been catching 10-fish limits in less than an hour. Most fishermen, though, have had to troll 4 to 5 hours to take limits.

The kokanee are 25 feet deep, Haley said. When anglers find a school and troll at the depth where the kokanee are, they get hook-ups.

Night fishing has been excellent, with some experienced fishermen catching 10 kokanee in less than an hour. The experts cruise around until they spot schools on their sonars. Then, they anchor their boats at both ends and fish just off the bottom, usually 30 feet deep, with glow hooks tipped with maggots, corn or both.

The night fishing starts after 9.

Haley said most of the kokanee fishermen catch are 12 to 13 inches long. Two of every 10 are immature fish that run 8 to 9 inches.

Lake Coeur d’Alene has been yielding some 25-fish limits of 11-inch kokanee, according to Justin Kimberling of the Fins & Feathers shop. The fish are still fairly shallow, enabling trollers to fish with two or three colors of leaded line ahead of multiple flashers or dodgers.

Most trollers have been catching 10 to 15 kokanee during a day’s fishing.

Some Spokane-area anglers have been fishing Koocanusa Lake in northwest Montana for 10- to 13-inch kokanee. The limit is 20 a day.

Spiny rays

Rain and wind plagued anglers at most popular spiny ray waters in Eastern Washington and North Idaho last week and during the holiday period. However, fishing was good at times for those who fished when the lakes were calm.

Mike Mielke, co-owner of the Sprague Lake Resort, said few bass, bluegills and walleyes were caught during the Fourth of July period, possibly because of unsettled weather. Winds hampered fishermen.

With the arrival of normal and above-normal temperatures, he said, fishing should pick up dramatically. Before the latest series of storms, some fishermen, mostly those who fished evenings, did well on bluegills and crappies.

Walleye fishing has picked up at the Potholes Reservoir, Rod Meseberg of the Mar-Don Resort reported. Trollers have taken walleyes in the shallow channels between sand dunes and some anglers have been hooking the fish near the outlet of the reservoir.

Most productive spots for bluegills and crappies, he said, have been the Coyote and Bobcat creek areas.

Kimberling said the opening of the catch-and-keep bass season at Hayden Lake on July 1 attracted the attention of numerous anglers, especially during relatively calm periods during the weekend.

Fishing was excellent for experienced bass fishermen, he said. Anglers fished near docks and in and around aquatic vegetation.

Hayden’s daily bass limit is two fish, none between 12 and 16 inches.

Incidentally, few anglers fished the lakes adjacent to the lower Coeur d’Alene River after the Forest Service announced it is closing two popular launch sites because all the lakes are contaminated with lead and other metals.

In the past, the lakes, which include Cave and Medicine, have attracted fishermen interested in catching northern pike, bass, crappies and catfish.

Kimberling also said bass fishing has been good at the Twin lakes.

However, fishing for pike has been slow, he said. With the arrival of warm weather, though, it should pick up. He suggested anglers find new weed growth in bays and cast plugs.

Salmon

If you are planning a trip to the Seattle area, consider fishing for Atlantic salmon in the Puget Sound southeast of Bremerton. Tony Floor, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Department, said 100,000 Atlantics recently escaped from a private facility and the agency has opened the area to fishing for the salmon to protect wild chinook and coho stocks.

Floor said the pen-reared Atlantic salmon range from 2 to 10 pounds. There are no size or bag limits for the salmon.

Salmon fishing at Lake Coeur d’Alene has been slow to fair, Kimberling said. Most anglers have been trolling helmeted herring at 30 to 60 feet deep.

Trout, lakes

Now is the time to fish Henry’s Lake and the Island Park Reservoir in the Last Chance area.

Lawson said damselflies are hatching and fly fishers have been hooking big hybrid rainbow-cutthroat at Henry’s Lake and big rainbows in the Island Park Reservoir. Numerous Spokane-area fly fishers usually spend time fishing the lake and reservoir this time of year. The big trout eagerly take properly presented damselfly nymphs.

Lawson said Island Park Reservoir holds some 10-pound-plus rainbows as the result of good water conditions the last couple of years.

“The water level hasn’t dropped much,” he said. “As a result, trout haven’t left the reservoir in big numbers. Island Park is a one of the best places in Idaho to fish for trophy trout.”

Numerous trout lakes in Eastern Washington are providing good fishing because water temperatures have remained lower than normal all spring and early summer.

Anglers who fish early and late in the day still can take home five-fish limits. Among the better producers have been Williams, Badger, West Medical, lakes in the Little Pend Oreille chain, Swan, Deep, Blue, Park, Conconnully, Fish (Okanogan County), Pearrygin and Patterson.

Meseberg said the Potholes Reservoir has been providing good trout fishing, with many trollers limiting at the mouth of the Frenchman Hills wasteway, the face of the sand dunes and the deep, cool water near Medicare Beach.

Specially managed waters

Although fishing has slowed at most of the fly fishing-only and selective-gear lakes, persistent anglers have been hooking a few trout nearly every time they fish.

If you fish Amber, start in the early evening. Most productive period of a day is after the sun is off the water. The lake holds large numbers of good-sized rainbows.

Bayley, a fly fishing-only lake, is a good choice for big rainbows and some brook trout. If you fish it, remember you no longer can keep a fish; the catch-and-release season opened Monday.

Dry Falls, a selective-gear lake, is a good choice for 14- to 20-inch rainbows and some big brown trout. Most of the bug hatches are over, but fly fishers are still taking fish on damselfly nymphs, chironomid pupa patterns and leech patterns.

Top lakes in Okanogan County are Blue, south of Loomis, and Chopaka, northwest of Loomis. But don’t expect fast fishing. The trout are finicky now that most hatches are over. The second generation of Callibaetis mayflies should start hatching some time this month at Chopaka.

Shad

The shad fishing season is just about over. If you still want a chance to hook a few, try casting lures just below John Day and Ice Harbor dams.

More than 1.5 million shad have climbed the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam the last couple months. The count at Ice Harbor has exceeded 4,500.